CLOZE CRITERION SCORES FOR COMPREHENSION LEVELS AMONG SELECTED NIGERIAN SECOND LANGUAGE READERS
CLOZE CRITERION SCORES FOR COMPREHENSION LEVELS AMONG SELECTED NIGERIAN SECOND LANGUAGE READERS
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Date
1996
Authors
Umolu, Joanne J.
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Abstract
The study was designed to establish criterion scores which would enable teachers to
use the teacher-constructed cloze test, an informal reading assessment instrument, to
predict how well Nigerian L2 students can comprehend the reading material used for
their class. This is necessary in view of the evidence that a large amount of the
reading material used in Nigerian schools today is too difficult for the students to
comprehend.
In this correlational study, four cloze passages drawn from Integrated Science texts
were administered in six schools in Jos yielding a total of 797 JSS2 and 602 SSS2
passages completed by L2 readers. Miscue analysis was carried out on each of the
100 cloze tests randomly selected for each of the four passages. Each miscue was
classified according to its semantic and syntactic acceptability and the relationships
between cloze scores and patterns of miscue types were examined. Regression
analysis was used to predict the proportion of semantically acceptable miscues
associated with each cloze score.
Based on this, predicted comprehension levels were established for cloze scores for
use with students at JSS2 and SSS2 levels. For example, cloze scores of 44% predict
comprehension levels of 73% among JSS2 and 72% among SSS2 readers while cloze
scores of 58% predict comprehension levels of 88% at both class levels.
Recommendations are made for the training of secondary teachers in the development,
administration and interpretation of cloze testing using the comprehension levels
established in the study.
Miscue patterns were also examined to find out unique processing strategies among
Nigerian L2 readers. The findings showed that these readers rely heavily on semantic
information to make meaning from syntactically difficult text. An observed trade-off
between use of syntactic and semantic cues supports the interactive-compensatory
views of the reading process. The implications of this for L2 reading instruction
include the need for teachers to build on the ability of the readers to process
semantically while improving their use of English syntactic cues while reading
Description
Dissertation submitted to
Faculty of Education
Ahmadu Bello University
Zaria
Joanne J. Umolu
in partial fulfilment of the requirement
for the award of Phd degree in
Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL)
1996
Keywords
CLOZE,, CRITERION,, SCORES,, COMPREHENSION,, LEVELS,, SELECTED,, NIGERIAN SECOND LANGUAGE READERS